Chavez beats respiratory infection

Venezuela’s Communications Minister Ernesto Villegas speaks to the media after reading a health statement about President Hugo Chavez at the summit of the Community of Latin American, Caribbean States and European Union in Santiago.
Photo: Reuters

“The respiratory infection has been overcome, although there still is some degree of breathing difficulty that is being treated appropriately," Mr Villegas said on Saturday on the sidelines of a regional summit with European Union leaders in Santiago.

Mr Chavez, who had surgery on December 11, has not been seen in public since he left Caracas for surgery at a hospital in communist Cuba.

Throughout his illness, first detected in June 2011, Mr Chavez refused to relinquish the powers of the presidency, even when leaving for Havana.

The 58-year-old former paratrooper was too sick to attend his January 10 inauguration, prompting the government to delay the swearing-in indefinitely under an interpretation of the constitution that was heavily criticised.

Mr Chavez first came to power in his oil-rich South American country in 1999 and won another six-year term in October, despite questions about his health.

The Chavez-controlled National Assembly and Supreme Court both approved the arrangement, which keeps his administration in place under Vice President Nicolas Maduro until the president can take the oath of office.